Kalman and Sjonger introduce the most southern continent, explaining how it has no countries, is covered by ice, and is bisected by the Transantarctic Mountains. The book opens with discussions of plant and animal life and early exploration, describing how certain animals were hunted nearly to extinction before the enactment of the Antarctic Treaty. Subsequent topics include current research, the burgeoning tourism industry, and how global warming will affect this land. Each double-page spread contains several boxes of succinct text in a large, clear typeface and well-chosen, captioned illustrations (many of them photographs). Boldfaced vocabulary words are defined in the concluding glossary, and many are also explained within the text. Thoughtfully and attractively presented, this Explore the Continents title makes a good choice for beginning researchers.
